Dent-Callahan and American Idol

Before I get to some comments and predictions on this week’s “American Idol,” I want to say something about today’s “Callahan rips Dent on women’s rights” story in The Morning Call.

If you read it, you’ll learn that congressional challenger and Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan claims Republican congressman Charlie Dent is indifferent to women’s rights and wants to turn back the clock to the '50s or something. I got a good laugh out of it.

If you’re smart, you’ll treat all mailers and press conferences involving these two candidates with similar amusement, at least until we get closer to November.

They’ve been sniping at each other for months, and most of it has been equally ridiculous. Callahan is a wild spender who won’t cut Bethlehem’s taxes. Dent is responsible for your higher electric bills. Callahan is an election law violator. Now Dent is anti-woman.

Surrogate bloggers have been beating the drums for both candidates. Dent already had robocallers at work in December. Thanks to the Supreme Court, I wouldn’t be surprised to see lots of national corporate dollars poured in.

My only advice is to treat most of this silly stuff with a lot of skepticism. If it sounds stupid, it probably is.

Charlie Dent isn’t anti-woman. John Callahan hasn’t been reckless with Bethlehem’s money. Dent isn’t to blame for your higher PPL bill. And this “election law violation,” if it’s a violation at all, is minor.

The one campaign tactic that does make sense to me is Dent’s efforts to get Callahan to speak up about his specific positions on health care reform. Whereas Dent’s record — like pretty much every other Republican, he’s against what's being proposed — is right out there, Callahan has tried to lie low. That may be smart politics, given the issue’s volatility and uncertain status, but I think Callahan eventually will have to reveal himself, and not just on the easy ones. I don’t blame Dent for trying to flush him out.

We know who Dent is. His record reveals a moderate Republican who consistently supported George W. Bush and has balked at the Obama agenda. As a practical matter, if he and other Republicans prevail, our health care system will remain as it is, at least for the foreseeable future.

If you like the direction Obama wants to take you and you’re comfortable with Callahan’s character, I would imagine you’ll vote for him. If you’re hoping the Republicans can retake Congress in November and force Obama and company to back off, you’ll probably vote for Dent. If your priority is to choose the best individual, with ideology just one of several factors, you’ll weigh them and decide that way.

What you shouldn’t do is put a lot of credence in extreme claims on behalf of either candidate, now or later. Most of what we’ve seen so far is ridiculous, and it may get worse.

Now, about Idol. I was pleasantly surprised to see so many solid performances in “Rolling Stones Week.” I expected a disaster.

Nonetheless, the night solidified my opinion that the real competition is between five people: Siobhan, Crystal, Mike, Casey and Lee, in that order.

Either Lacey or Tim should be voted off tonight, although I certainly wouldn’t rule out Paige. The revelation that she performed so well Tuesday with laryngitis is likely to help her get some sympathy votes, I suspect.

I thought Simon was noticeably more supportive, even of people who I thought were terrible. Not sure what that was about. I might be wrong, but I’m thinking Ellen had scripted — or been scripted — some jokes, perhaps under pressure to start being funny instead of just annoying.

Siobhan had her Adam Lambert moment with a wild “Paint It Black,” and since I already thought she was very good, I moved her to the top. I actually thought the judges were too critical of Crystal, though, perhaps just to avoid appearing to slobber over her every week. Her “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” was the night’s second-best showing.

Current Comments

American Idol is ridiculous. So is Dancing with the Stars. At least that's my opinion.

The dueling news releases involving Dent and Callahan strike you as ridiculous, but I love it.

The Dent and Callahan back and forth is both entertaining and instructive. It encourages people to inform themselves. Sure, I guess I'm a Dent surrogate. I'll accept that mantle. But I think people who look at my blog and the pro Callahan blogs (there are two of them) are bound to have a good picture of the race.

And the point you make about Callahan has been hammered home.

Five years ago, the MSM decided what the people saw. Those days are over. Yes, the people will be exposed to bias, but they're smarter than you think. I get away with nothing, believe me.

Bernie: I don't see why we can't have both. If you take the pretense of fairness from at least some of the news disseminators, it's like having Fox and MSNBC as the only TV news networks. Where can somebody go if they haven't already made up their mind about who's good and who's evil? I think the mix serves us pretty well.

Posted By: bill white | Mar 18, 2010 11:48:24 AM

Bill, I think we do have both. There will always be a need for good journalism. But the days of MSM monopoly are over. That's bad in some ways because people like me are not trained reporters and will miss things that are obvious to people like you. We are also often denied access. But it's also good bc people are exposed to a lot more information and completely different perspectives.

You've noted yourself in some of your prior blogs how difficult it is for an underfunded challenger to get the word out when the MSM pretty much disregards their news releases and conferences. Bloggers can and do fill that information gap.

I've been trying to do that since I've started here. I've failed, too, but not for want of trying. I've noticed new blogs in places like Easton that are really going into the local stuff there. i think that really helps inform people, even if some of the information is biased.

We are hampered by lack of access to people that might make us more accurate, but we can still report what we do see and hear. And if our bias makes us unfair, people will simply stop reading us. I think it is more important to be fair than it is to be objective.

I know that journalists go to great lengths to try to remain objective, but I'm not sold on the merits of that philosophy. First of all, whether you like to admit it or not, some individual bias is bound to creep in. Second, sometimes, there really is only one side of a story.

You love to write about TV shows and Mark Trail and any of a number of things. I think you once said that more of your readers are interested in that than in local politics.

But there is a group of us who can't get enough of that stuff. When you sound off on a school board or local politician, it is discussed for days. And yes, we do get caught up in all the intrigues coming from different political contests. Sometimes, what newsman deride as ridiculous ends up being a rather important issue.

The point is that, with the Internet, the MSM has lost its ability to control what people see and don't see. And many items originally dismissed by the MSM end up being major news stories.

In some countries like China and Iran, the government has to clamp down on the Internet so that they can control the message they want people to hear.

Eric Chiles will be doing a symposium in the effect that the Internet has had on the MSM. I believe Tim Kennedy will be one of the participants. I'll dig out my notes and post about it.

Politics, Shmolitics, you got the bottom three correct. That's a pretty good call for the first week of 12. I think your ranking is pretty good. I'm looking forward to the next few weeks.

Posted By: Jeff Hager | Mar 18, 2010 2:17:10 PM

Every time ever voted, got the feeling the "vote" was "Lost in Space." With the new machines, it's "More Than A Feeling." The late, great Ed Weber did not see it that way but "Welcome To The Machine."

Sorry, Ed.

Posted By: Johnny Potatoe | Mar 18, 2010 7:07:37 PM

Bernie, we're not disagreeing, although I get the sense that you think we are. As you said, we do have both, and I think that's a plus. As far as the content of this blog, remember I'm writing three columns a week in addition to what I'm doing here. For the most part, I try not to do the same thing here I'm doing there. Writing eight times a week about local politics would bore me, even if it didn't bore the readers, which I think it would.
Jeff, thank you. The fans got it exactly right. Barring disaster for someone in the bottom 6, I would expect Tim or Paige to go next week.

Posted By: bill white | Mar 18, 2010 7:32:07 PM

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